We condemn the death sentences issued by a court in Minya
province in Egypt on March 24, 2014, against 529 defendants who were found
guilty of the murder of a police officer during the storming of Matay
police station in August 2013.

The use of the death sentence against such a large number
of defendants underscores that the current regime is not interested in
finding out the truth about the events which led to this prosecution but
rather in imposing collective punishment on its opponents.

The sentences were issued without hearing any arguments
from the defence in a trial which lasted only 45 minutes according to
defence lawyers.

International and local human rights organisations have
documented numerous cases of mass arbitrary arrests, lack of access to
legal representation and severe torture of detainees since the
military’s intervention to remove Muslim Brotherhood affiliated
president Muhammed Morsi from power on 3 July 2013.

We also note that according to Amnesty International
around 1400 people were killed between June 30, 2013, and January 2014,
the vast majority of them protesters. According to local human rights
activists the numbers of detainees arrested during the same period may
be as many as 21,000.

In such circumstances it is impossible to have any confidence in this judgement.

We call for an end to the violent repression of protests in Egypt and fair trials for all accused.